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Gate for domestic farm animals, an automated milking facility including such a gate, and method of training domestic farm animals to use such a gate

The present invention relates generally to one-way gates for domestic animals and, more particularly, to such a gate having a barrier that turns about a horizontal axis from a quiescent position in only a first direction in response to the animal pushing against the barrier and turns about the horizontal axis in a second, opposite direction, to the quiescent position, after the animal has passed through the barrier.

A prior art system for automatically milking cows, and is probably adaptable for use with other mammals that are milked, is illustrated in FIG. 1 as including cow pen 12 where the cows spend most of their day, eating, sleeping, eliminating and chewing their cud. The cows have been trained so that, from time to time (when their bags are full and the cows need to be milked), they leave cow pen 12 and go to robotic milker 14 that is located in passage 16, including entry portion 18, exit portion 20 and milking portion 22, where robotic milker 14 is located.

The cows in pen 12 access robotic milker 14 by pushing open one way barriers of gates 24 and 26; gate 24 is between pen 12 and entry portion 18 of passage 16, while gate 26 is between entry portion 18 and milker portion 22 of passage 16. After the cows have been milked by robotic milker 14, the cows return to pen 12 by pushing open a one way barrier of gate 28 between milking portion 22 and exit portion 20 of passage 16 and by pushing open a one way barrier of gate 30 between exit portion 20 and pen 12. While a cow is being milked by robotic milker 14, she is prevented from leaving milking portion 22 because gates 26 and 28 are locked closed. Gates 26 and 28 can be opened by the cows pushing against a barrier of the gates upon completion of the milking process.

Because each of gates 24, 26, 28 and 30 has a one-way barrier, the cow is supposed to be able to only walk from pen 12 into entry area 18, thence to milking area 20, thence back to pen 12 by way of gates 28 and 30 and exit portion 20 of passage 16. The barriers of gates 24, 26, 28 and 30, in the prior art arrangement, are typically spring biased to open in only one direction so that the barriers pivot about vertical axes in response to the cows pushing against the gates.

A problem with the prior art arrangement is that many of the cows can not be trained to push the barriers of gates 24, 26 and 30 to the open position. In addition, some cows are able to open the barriers of the prior art gates in a direction opposite to the desired direction by pushing against the spring biased barriers with sufficient force. Hence, the prior art system of FIG. 1 has been found to function satisfactorily for only a relatively small percentage of cows. The prior art gates also are relatively expensive to build and maintain because of initial and replacement costs associated with the springs that have a tendency to wear.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,584,261, Hart et al., discloses a dairy parlor gate that is pivotable about a horizontal axis. The gate is made of a non-electrically conductive material that does not interfere with an electromagnetic field generated by an electronic identification system for use with animal-worn transponders. Sensors responsive to the transponders activate a motor that causes the gate to pivot about the horizontal axis, to enable the cow to gain access to a milking area. Possible problems with this system are that the non-electrically conductive materials in the gate appear to be relatively expensive, as is the motorized system for driving the gate about its horizontal axis. In addition, because a cow approaching the sensor is likely to be moving as the transponder moves past the sensor, there is a high probability of the sensor not sensing the transponder adequately. Consequently, the reliability of the motorized automated system to enable cows to move through the gate is likely to be reduced.

It is, accordingly, an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved gate for farm animals.

Another object of the invention is to provide a new and improved gate for enabling farm animals to move in only one direction from a pen to a destination location, e.g., a robotic milker, wherein the gate is relatively inexpensive.

A further object of the invention is to provide a new and improved gate for enabling farm animals to move in only one direction from a pen to a destination location, e.g., a robotic milker, wherein the gate is constructed so that the farm animals can more reliably open the gate as the animals move toward the destination location.

An additional object of the invention is to provide a new and improved gate for enabling farm animals to move in only one direction from a pen to a destination location, e.g., a robotic milker, wherein the gate includes an arrangement for facilitating training of the animals to use the gate.

An added object of the invention is to provide a new and improved automated milking facility wherein animals to be milked move in only a single direction through highly reliable one way gates that the animals are easily trained to walk through.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a method of training farm animals to push open one way gates that swing about horizontal axes.

In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a gate for domestic farm animals includes a support and a barrier for the animals carried by the support. The support and barrier are arranged for enabling the barrier to turn about a horizontal axis from a quiescent position in only a first direction in response to the animal pushing against the barrier and to turn in a second direction, opposite to the first direction, about the horizontal axis to the quiescent position after the animal has passed through the barrier.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention, gates of the type described in the previous paragraph are employed in a milking facility for domestic farm animals, wherein the facility includes a milking area, a pen area, a first passage leading from the pen area to the milking area, and a second passage leading from the milking area to the pen area. The first passage includes a first of the gates, while the second passage includes a second of the gates. The first passage and the first gate are arranged so that the animals must walk through the first gate in order to get from the pen area to the milking area. The second passage and second gate are arranged so that the animals must walk through the second gate in order to get from the milking area back to the pen area. The gates are constructed so the animals can not walk from the milking area to the pen through the first gate and can not walk from the pen to the milking area through the second gate.

A further aspect of the invention relates to a method of training a domestic farm animal to walk through a one-way gate having a barrier that in a normal, non-training mode: (a) the barrier has a quiescent position in a vertical plane and turns in a first direction about a horizontal axis in response to the animal pushing against the barrier, and (b) the gate turns in a second direction about the horizontal axis so it again has a quiescent position in the vertical plane after the animal has walked through the gate. The method comprises turning the barrier in the first direction to an angle removed from the vertical plane so that as the animal approaches and initially pushes against the gate the barrier does not contact the head of the animal, but contacts the back of the animal. After the animal has walked through the gate with the barrier in the turned position a sufficient number of times that the animal willingly walks through the gate, the barrier is positioned so the plane of the barrier has a quiescent position in the vertical plane.

The barrier is preferably initially at a first large angle relative to the vertical plane. After the animal has walked through the gate with the barrier at the first angle a sufficient number of times that the animal willingly walks through the gate, the barrier is positioned at a second angle relative to the vertical plane; the second angle being less than the first angle. After the animal has walked through the gate with the barrier at the second angle a sufficient number of times that the animal willingly walks through the gate, the barrier is positioned in the vertical plane.

In normal operation, i.e., a non-training mode, the horizontal axis and the barrier are preferably arranged so that the animals can walk through the barrier while moving their legs in a normal walking manner. In the non-training mode, the barrier has a bottom portion positioned such that the heads of the animals can pass under the bottom portion only as a result of the animals ducking their heads lower than the usual positions thereof. It has been found that these geometric considerations enable cows to easily move through the gates when the cows want to be milked because their bags are full and after they have been milked, e.g. by a robotic milker.

The barrier preferably includes plural equal length tines that turn independently of each other in the first and second directions about the axis. Pads at the free ends of the tines prevent the animals from being injured by the tines as the tines contact the animals.

The tines are preferably horizontally displaced relative to each other so that a first of the tines contacts central portions of the backs of the animals as the animals pass through the gate and second and third of the tines respectively contact portions of the backs of the animals located on opposite sides of the central portions of the backs of the animals as the animals pass through the gate.

The one way action of the gate is preferably provided by employing a horizontally mounted bar that the tines engage while in all of the quiescent positions. The bar prevents turning of the tines about the horizontal axis in the second direction from the quiescent position.